Critical analysis of the components of inventories of Greenhouse Gases in urban water supply and sewerage

Abstract

The concentration of population in urban areas significantly impacts the sustainability of utility systems, especially the relations between water availability and demand management, energy efficiency in urban water supply and sewage, air emissions and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This paper describes the initial critical analysis corporate GHG inventories in sanitation operations, considering the data of GHG emissions relevant to the analysis of the effect of approaches to managing water demand programs of GHG emissions in the sector and their environmental impacts. As a case study, the data from PURA-USP in water management of the Campus of the University of São Paulo (CUASO) was applied. The PURA was chosen due its focus on demand actions and because it has a consolidated results history of these actions in the past five years, covering a physical area with clearly defined authority and administration. The inventories considered national emission quantification methodologies proposed by the GHG Protocol (2013) and the guidelines set by the IPCC - Itergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, being released by the sanitation sector through Sustainability Reporting and the Public Registry of emissions. The aim in quantifying these emissions is to demonstrate quantitatively greenhouse gas emissions linked to the volume of water saved by the actions of rational use of water in building systems programs, demonstratrating their impact in an urban system. The partial results of GHG emissions and its positive environmental impacts, GHG emissions indicators of production processes for the treatment and distribution of drinking water, loss on systems, management od demand for consumption and wastewater treatment are described and critical analysis of Greenhouse Gas inventories and this components in urban water supply and sewage will contribute to the proposed revision of the current structure.